The Hookup Divide

Apr 18, 20195 minutes

ILLUSTRATION BY ERIC CHOW

ONE MORNING in college, a friend slapped down her cafeteria tray and looked around at the rest of us—all girls. “Do you guys have orgasms?” she asked. One by one, we blushingly recounted the rapturous pleasure we’d experienced at the tender, skillful hands of drunk guys we’d met at parties. Then we all started to make out, Froot Loop milk dripping into our heaving bosoms.

What really happened is that for a very long moment, nobody said a word. “I had them with my high school boyfriend, but not really since,” one friend said.

“Yeah, not really,” another girl echoed. I’d recently hooked up with a guy in a fraternity who wore basketball shorts and flip-flops to parties “for easy access.” No orgasm. We were